EP1037335B1 - Laser à l'état solide - Google Patents

Laser à l'état solide Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1037335B1
EP1037335B1 EP00105505A EP00105505A EP1037335B1 EP 1037335 B1 EP1037335 B1 EP 1037335B1 EP 00105505 A EP00105505 A EP 00105505A EP 00105505 A EP00105505 A EP 00105505A EP 1037335 B1 EP1037335 B1 EP 1037335B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
wavelength
solid
state laser
oscillation
etalon
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
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EP00105505A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP1037335A3 (fr
EP1037335A2 (fr
Inventor
Yoji c/o Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. Okazaki
Hiroaki c/o Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. Hyuga
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Fujifilm Corp
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Fujifilm Corp
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Publication date
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Publication of EP1037335A2 publication Critical patent/EP1037335A2/fr
Publication of EP1037335A3 publication Critical patent/EP1037335A3/fr
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
    • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
    • H01S3/05—Construction or shape of optical resonators; Accommodation of active medium therein; Shape of active medium
    • H01S3/08—Construction or shape of optical resonators or components thereof
    • H01S3/08018—Mode suppression
    • H01S3/08022—Longitudinal modes
    • H01S3/08031—Single-mode emission
    • H01S3/08036—Single-mode emission using intracavity dispersive, polarising or birefringent elements

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a solid-state laser apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1.
  • Such apparatus is known from US-A-5657341 .
  • Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7(1995)-302946 proposes a solid-state laser apparatus in which a solid-state laser rod doped with a rare earth element such as neodymium is pumped by a semiconductor laser device (laser diode).
  • a semiconductor laser device laser diode
  • an etalon is provided in a resonator as a wavelength selection element so as to realize a single longitudinal mode.
  • solid-state laser apparatuses having such a construction are widely used.
  • a nonlinear laser optical crystal is arranged in the resonator so as to convert laser light emitted by the solid-state laser rod, into a second harmonic wave, for wavelength conversion.
  • Such solid-state laser apparatuses are also widely used.
  • oscillation of undesired wavelengths occurs at the same time as oscillation of a desired wavelength.
  • a solid-state laser apparatus when laser light having a wavelength of 1,064 nm is desired, oscillation of laser light having wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm occurs concurrently.
  • oscillation of laser light having a wavelength of 938 nm occurs concurrently.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state laser apparatus in which oscillation of undesired wavelengths is suppressed, and oscillation of only a desired wavelength is stably maintained.
  • a solid-state laser apparatus including the features of claim 1.
  • a solid-state laser apparatus including the features of claim 2.
  • the surface of the etalon through which laser light passes is arranged so that a reflectance of the surface is maximized at a desired wavelength, i.e., reflectances of the surface at wavelengths other than the desired wavelength are smaller than the reflectance at the desired wavelength.
  • a desired wavelength i.e., reflectances of the surface at wavelengths other than the desired wavelength are smaller than the reflectance at the desired wavelength.
  • the present applicants have found that the aforementioned drawbacks of the conventional solid-state laser apparatuses are caused by the above arrangement in which the reflectance of the etalon surface is maximized at a desired wavelength. That is, since the reflectances of the surface of the etalon at wavelengths other than the desired wavelength are arranged to be relatively small, oscillation of laser light having the wavelengths other than the desired wavelength occurs when a gain of a solid-state laser medium increases with an increase in the power of the excitation laser light.
  • the at least one reflectance of the at least one surface of the etalon at the desired wavelength is smaller than the reflectances of the at least one surface at the wavelengths other than the desired wavelength. Therefore, finesse (i.e., selectivity of the longitudinal mode) is enhanced for the wavelengths other than the desired wavelength, and loss of the laser light having the undesired wavelengths increases. Thus, the oscillation of laser light having the undesired wavelengths is suppressed.
  • the solid-state laser apparatus according to the preferred aspect of the present invention comprises the provisions of both of the above features of the present invention
  • the solid-state laser apparatus according to the preferred aspect of the present invention has the above-mentioned advantages of both of the above features of the present invention.
  • Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the construction of the solid-state laser apparatus as the first embodiment of the present invention.
  • the solid-state laser apparatus of Fig. 1 comprises a semiconductor laser device 11, a collimator lens 12, a condenser lens 13, a solid-state laser medium 14, a resonator mirror 15, an optical wavelength conversion element 16, a Brewster plate 17, and an etalon 18.
  • the semiconductor laser device 11 emits a laser beam 10 as pumping light.
  • the collimator lens 12 collimates the laser beam 10, which is originally divergent light.
  • the condenser lens 13 condenses the collimated laser beam.
  • the solid-state laser medium 14 is a neodymium-doped YVO 4 crystal (Nd:YVO 4 crystal).
  • the resonator mirror 15 is arranged on the forward side (right side in Fig. 1 ) of the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14.
  • the optical wavelength conversion element 16, the Brewster plate 17, and the etalon 18 are arranged between the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 and the resonator mirror 15. All of the above elements are integrated by mounting them on a common chassis (not shown), and are maintained at a predetermined temperature by a temperature control circuit (not shown) and a Peltier element (not shown).
  • the optical wavelength conversion element 16 is made of an MgO-doped LiNbO 3 crystal as a nonlinear optical material, and a periodic domain-inverted structure is formed in the MgO-doped LiNbO 3 crystal.
  • the Brewster plate 17 functions as a polarization control element.
  • the etalon 18 functions as a wavelength selection element for realizing single-wavelength oscillation.
  • the semiconductor laser device 11 emits the laser beam 10 having a wavelength of 809 nm.
  • the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 emits light having a wavelength of 1,064 nm when neodymium ions in the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 are excited by the laser beam 10. Then, laser oscillation occurs in a resonator (which is explained later), and a solid-state laser beam 20 having the wavelength of 1,064 nm is obtained.
  • the laser beam 20 is incident on the optical wavelength conversion element 16 to be converted into a second harmonic wave 21 having a wavelength of 532 nm, i.e., one-half the wavelength of the laser beam 20.
  • High-reflectance (HF) coating for the oscillation wavelength of the solid-state laser i.e., 1,064 nm is provided on the outer end surface 14a (located on the side of the semiconductor laser device 11) of the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14, and antireflection (AR) coating for the wavelength of 1,064 nm is provided on the inner end surface 14b of the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14.
  • AR antireflection
  • other coating is provided on the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15, which is a concave mirror.
  • the coating on the mirror surface 15a exhibits high reflectance at the wavelength of the solid-state laser, i.e., 1,064 nm, and allows passage therethrough of a portion of the second harmonic wave 21 having the wavelength of 532 nm.
  • the solid-state laser beam 20 resonates between the outer end surface 14a of the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 and the mirror surface 15a, and substantially only the second harmonic wave 21 exits from the resonator through the resonator mirror 15. That is, in this embodiment, the resonator of the solid-state laser is constituted by the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 and the resonator mirror 15.
  • Fig. 2 is a graph illustrating the gain of the laser optical crystal used in the construction of Fig. 1 .
  • oscillation can occur at the wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm, in addition to the wavelength of 1,064 nm.
  • the gains at the wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm are lower than the gain at wavelength of 1,064 nm.
  • the power of the semiconductor laser device 11 is increased to about 2 W
  • oscillation can also occur at the wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm.
  • the above wavelength of 1,064 nm is required to be oscillated.
  • reflectances of both end surfaces (light-transmitting surfaces) 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 are arranged as illustrated in Fig. 3 by appropriately coating the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18.
  • the reflectances of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 at the wavelength of 1,064 nm are arranged to be 60%, and the reflectances of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 at the wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm are respectively set to be 65% and 75%, which are higher than the reflectances at the wavelength of 1,064 nm.
  • the tilt angle of the etalon 18 is 60'.
  • finesse selectiveivity of the longitudinal mode
  • the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15 is arranged as illustrated in Fig. 4 . That is, the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a at the wavelength of 1,064 nm is arranged to be about 100%, and the reflectances of the mirror surface 15a at the wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm are respectively arranged to be 99% and 98%, which are lower than the reflectance at the wavelength of 1,064 nm.
  • the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a When the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a is set as above, it becomes easier for light having the undesired wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm to pass through the resonator mirror 15 to exit from the resonator. Thus, oscillation of the undesired wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm can be further suppressed.
  • Fig. 5 is a graph illustrating the reflectance of a typical etalon used in a conventional solid-state laser apparatus
  • Fig. 6 is a graph illustrating the reflectance of a typical resonator mirror used in a conventional solid-state laser apparatus. That is, in conventional solid-state laser apparatuses, the reflectances of light-transmitting surfaces of an etalon are arranged to be maximized at the desired wavelength of 1,064 nm, as illustrated in Fig. 5 , and the reflectances of a mirror surface of a resonator mirror at the desired wavelength of 1,064 nm and the undesired wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm are arranged to be identical, as illustrated in Fig. 6 .
  • the reflectances of all of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 and the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15 are arranged as above so as to further suppress the oscillation of the undesired wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm.
  • the arrangement of the reflectances is made only in the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18, or when the arrangement of the reflectances is made only in the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15, the oscillation of the undesired wavelengths is still effectively suppressed.
  • the Brewster plate 17, as a polarization control element is formed by a birefringent filter, so as to increase the loss at the undesired wavelengths of 1,075 nm and 1,085 nm. Therefore, even if the power of the semiconductor laser device 11 is increased from the aforementioned amount (i.e., about 2 W) to 3 or 4 W, oscillation occurs at only the desired wavelength of 1,064 nm. Further, in the above construction, no further birefringent filter for wavelength selection is required to be inserted into the resonator. Therefore, it is possible to avoid increase in optical loss and length of the resonator, while the optical loss and the length of the resonator will increase if the birefringent filter is inserted.
  • the Nd:YVO 4 crystal 14 does not have an oscillation line having a wavelength shorter than 1,064 nm. Therefore, the arrangement of the reflectances of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 is very simple as illustrated in Fig. 3 , and thus the coating of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 can be easily designed.
  • Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the construction of the solid-state laser apparatus as the second embodiment of the present invention.
  • elements having the same reference numbers as Fig. 1 have the same function as the corresponding elements in Fig. 1 .
  • the solid-state laser apparatus in the second embodiment of the present invention is also a semiconductor-laser-excited solid-state laser apparatus.
  • an Nd:YAG crystal 34 is used as the solid-state laser medium.
  • the Nd:YAG crystal 34 emits light having a wavelength of 946 nm when neodymium ions in the Nd:YAG crystal 34 are excited by the laser beam 10 having the wavelength of 809 nm.
  • laser oscillation occurs in a resonator (which is explained later), and a solid-state laser beam 30 having the wavelength of 946 nm is obtained.
  • the laser beam 30 is incident on the optical wavelength conversion element 16 to be converted into a second harmonic wave 31 having a wavelength of 473 nm, i.e., one-half the wavelength of the laser beam 30.
  • High-reflectance (HF) coating for the oscillation wavelength of the solid-state laser, i.e., 946 nm is provided on the outer end surface 34a (located on the side of the semiconductor laser device 11) of the Nd:YAG crystal 34, and antireflection (AR) coating for the wavelength of 946 nm is provided on the inner end surface 34b of the Nd:YAG crystal 34.
  • other coating is provided on the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15, which is a concave mirror.
  • the coating on the mirror surface 15a exhibits high reflectance at the wavelength of the solid-state laser, i.e., 946 nm, and allows passage therethrough of a portion of the second harmonic wave 31 having the wavelength of 473 nm.
  • the solid-state laser beam 30 resonates between the outer end surface 34a of the Nd:YAG crystal 34 and the mirror surface 15a, and substantially only the second harmonic wave 31 exits from the resonator through the resonator mirror 15. That is, in this embodiment, the resonator of the solid-state laser is constituted by the Nd:YAG crystal 34 and the resonator mirror 15.
  • Fig. 8 is a graph illustrating the gain of the laser optical crystal used in the construction of Fig. 7 .
  • oscillation can occur at the wavelength of 938 nm, in addition to the wavelength of 946 nm.
  • the gain at the wavelength of 938 nm is lower than the gain at wavelength of 946 nm.
  • oscillation can also occur at the wavelength of 938 nm.
  • the above wavelength of 946 nm is required to be oscillated.
  • reflectances of both end surfaces (light-transmitting surfaces) 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 are arranged as illustrated in Fig. 9 by appropriately coating the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18. That is, the reflectances of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 at the wavelength of 946 nm are arranged to be 20%, and the reflectances of the end surfaces 18a and 18b of the etalon 18 at the wavelength of 938 nm are arranged to be 25%, which is higher than the reflectances at the wavelength of 946 nm.
  • the tilt angle of the etalon 18 is also 60'.
  • the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a of the resonator mirror 15 is arranged as illustrated in Fig. 10 . That is, the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a at the wavelength of 946 nm is arranged to be about 100%, and the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a at the wavelength of 938 nm is arranged to be 99%, which is lower than the reflectance at the wavelength of 946 nm.
  • the reflectance of the mirror surface 15a is arranged as above, the light having the undesired wavelength of 938 nm can easily pass through the resonator mirror 15 to exit from the resonator, compared with the light having the desired wavelength of 946 nm. Thus, oscillation of the undesired wavelength of 938 nm can be further suppressed.
  • the present invention can be applied to all types of solid-state laser apparatuses, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the semiconductor-laser-excited solid-state laser apparatuses or the solid-state laser apparatuses in which wavelength conversion is performed by an optical wavelength conversion element.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Lasers (AREA)

Claims (2)

  1. Appareil laser à l'état solide, comprenant :
    un résonateur (14a, 15a ; 34a ; 15a), dans lequel il se produit une oscillation de la lumière laser (20 ; 30) présentant une longueur d'onde prédéterminée ;
    un milieu laser à l'état solide (14) qui présente un gain à ladite longueur d'onde prédéterminée et un gain à au moins une autre longueur d'onde, ceci pouvant donner une oscillation de lumière laser présentant ladite longueur d'onde prédéterminée et une oscillation de lumière laser présentant ladite autre longueur d'onde dans ledit résonateur, et
    un étalon (18) qui est fourni dans le résonateur afin de sélectionner ladite longueur d'onde prédéterminée comme longueur d'onde de lumière laser devant être émise à partir de l'appareil laser à l'état solide,
    caractérisé en ce que
    ledit étalon comprend au moins une surface (18a, 18b) que la lumière laser (20, 21 ; 30, 31) traverse, et ladite surface est agencée de manière à ce que le facteur de réflexion de la au moins une surface à ladite longueur d'onde prédéterminée est inférieur au facteur de réflexion de la au moins une surface à ladite au moins une autre longueur d'onde, de telle sorte que l'oscillation à ladite au moins une autre longueur d'onde est supprimée.
  2. Appareil laser à l'état solide selon la revendication 1, dans lequel au moins un miroir (1) du résonateur est agencé de telle sorte qu'au moins un facteur de réflexion du au moins un miroir (15) à ladite longueur d'onde prédéterminée est supérieur aux facteurs de réflexion du au moins un miroir (15) aux longueurs d'onde autres que la longue d'onde prédéterminée.
EP00105505A 1999-03-16 2000-03-15 Laser à l'état solide Expired - Lifetime EP1037335B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP11070184A JP2000269573A (ja) 1999-03-16 1999-03-16 固体レーザー
JP7018499 1999-03-16

Publications (3)

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EP1037335A2 EP1037335A2 (fr) 2000-09-20
EP1037335A3 EP1037335A3 (fr) 2003-09-03
EP1037335B1 true EP1037335B1 (fr) 2008-11-26

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EP00105505A Expired - Lifetime EP1037335B1 (fr) 1999-03-16 2000-03-15 Laser à l'état solide

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US (1) US7088760B1 (fr)
EP (1) EP1037335B1 (fr)
JP (1) JP2000269573A (fr)
DE (1) DE60040883D1 (fr)

Family Cites Families (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5671240A (en) 1984-11-18 1997-09-23 Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. Solid state laser
US5226054A (en) 1991-09-18 1993-07-06 Coherent, Inc. Cavity mirror for suppressing high gain laser wavelengths
US5351251A (en) 1993-03-30 1994-09-27 Carl Zeiss, Inc. Laser apparatus
ATE193166T1 (de) * 1993-08-26 2000-06-15 Laser Power Corp Tiefblauer mikrolaser
US5761227A (en) * 1994-08-23 1998-06-02 Laser Power Corporation Efficient frequency-converted laser
JP3222340B2 (ja) 1994-12-27 2001-10-29 富士写真フイルム株式会社 単一縦モードレーザー
JP3330487B2 (ja) * 1996-03-21 2002-09-30 富士写真フイルム株式会社 レーザー装置
US5854802A (en) * 1996-06-05 1998-12-29 Jin; Tianfeng Single longitudinal mode frequency converted laser
JPH1084155A (ja) * 1996-09-06 1998-03-31 Ricoh Co Ltd 固体レーザ装置
JPH104233A (ja) * 1996-06-18 1998-01-06 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd 波長変換レーザー
JP3966958B2 (ja) * 1997-09-26 2007-08-29 富士フイルム株式会社 固体レーザー
US6285702B1 (en) * 1999-03-05 2001-09-04 Coherent, Inc. High-power external-cavity optically-pumped semiconductor laser
US6130900A (en) * 1999-03-05 2000-10-10 Coherent, Inc. Pulsed intracavity frequency-converted solid-state laser with long-pulse simulation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP2000269573A (ja) 2000-09-29
EP1037335A3 (fr) 2003-09-03
US7088760B1 (en) 2006-08-08
DE60040883D1 (de) 2009-01-08
EP1037335A2 (fr) 2000-09-20

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